Categories

The Millennium trilogy by Swedish author Stieg Larsson is THE literary phenomenon of the last decade with 15 million books sold worldwide, 25 translations in over 40 countries, and a movie that is blasting box-office records in Scandinavia and several European countries. And the Millennium saga has only just begun…

This portrait of Stieg Larsson reveals the story of an outstanding success – a worldwide phenomenon who at the age of 50, died from a sudden heart attack before his first novel was even published. This planetary triumph is analyzed by close friends and relatives of Stieg Larsson; by his publisher, his journalist colleagues and by various professionals who have worked on the films, including Swedish Producer, Soren Staermose, and the leading actors Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist who play Elisabeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist.

They have all been seduced by this 2000-page-long thriller trilogy that totally revisits the genre with freshly-defined characters and a reversal of sexual roles. It also offers well-documented and believable realism, along with a powerful story set against a political backdrop.

Millenium - The Story gives us insight into Stieg Larsson’s life and work. The child who grew up in a humble environment, amid hostility and strife, went on to become a dogged and forthright journalist. He published six books on particularly-cherished subjects: democracy, violence against women, racism, and death threats against journalists on account of their beliefs. This latter subject was particularly dear to him after he and a number of his colleagues were personally threatened after creating a magazine determined to combat the rise of the Extreme Right-Wing and racism.

Stieg Larsson stood his ground, refusing to be silenced by fear. The only compromise he made was refraining from marrying his girlfriend in order to protect her. This decision affected her adversely after his death as it led to a highly-publicized inheritance war. Larsson would have probably looked down on such behavior as he had always advocated respect for others and fought against the corrupting power of money, this becoming the only cloud cast on an otherwise amazing and unexpected Scandinavian success story of colossal proportions.

Courtesy of Music Box Films, the U.S. distributor of the film adaptations of Larsson's "Millennium" trilogy. "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest" opens in movie theaters across the country on Friday, October 29th. Visit http://www.millenniumfilmtrilogy.com for complete details.

When Norwegian rap group Side Brok suddenly appeared on the national music scene, rapping in their own dialect with humorous and sarcastic lyrics inspired by their hometown Ørsta on the west coast of Norway, the critics hardly knew what to believe. The audience loved them, but was small town hip-hop intended as a joke or were Side Brok actually serious about their music? Home Boys is an intimate portrait of Norway’s most outrageous and against-all-odds successful rap group through the first six years of their career. Starting with their concert debut in 2003, the film follows them backstage from their national breakthrough through ups and downs on the bumpy road to their third and most recent album-release in 2009. It is a story of growing up in a small town, and coming to terms with your own roots and identity in a creative way. The film portrays a distinctly Norwegian hip-hop universe of mountains, fjords, cars, booze, humor and irony, but also of true friendship and love of words and music.

The film Home Boys also features New York-rapper Thirstin Howl III in a unique collaboration with Side Brok in Norway. The latter’s main rapper Runar Gudnason was greatly inspired by Thirstin Howl III at the time he started writing Norwegian rap lyrics, and his alter ego Thorstein Hyl III even borrows the name from Thirstin Howl III. Gudnason’s style of rapping in Norwegian in fact has very much in common with the Spanglish flow and lyrical wit of Thirstin Howl, even though their backgrounds from Williamsburg, Brooklyn and the Norwegian countryside couldn’t be more different.

In this sense, Side Brok is living evidence of the great cultural impact and power to inspire that the genre of hip-hop has had - and still has - in any unlikely corner of the world.

Jan Thomas is released from prison after having served eight years - for what may have been an accident or murder ... Being a divinely gifted organist, he gets a position in a church. The priest is Anna, a single mother that Jan Thomas soon feels attracted to. He decides not to tell her about his past, but then Agnes, a teacher, comes on a school visit to the church. She recognizes the organist Jan Thomas as the young boy who was convicted of the murder of her son ...

Troubled Water skilfully combines two strong stories about people who try to come to terms with the past - and with their own fate. They try to accept who they have become, and to find a new way to relate to love. Troubled Water is the third film in Erik Poppe’s trilogy which started with Schpaaa and Hawaii, Oslo.

Please join us for an informal discussion after the film led by Pastor Kristin Sundt, Pastor at Mindekirken, The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church in Minneapolis and Pastor Anne Løyning, Sjømannskirken's Pastor to Norwegian students in the US, Canada and Mexico. More details to come!

Note that although this film is primarily in Norwegian, one of the central actresses speaks her native Danish.

The Parkway Theater opened for business in February 1931 and has been operating as a neighborhood cinema ever since. The theater has 360 set auditorium seats and 20 movable two person VIP love seats for a total seating capacity of 400 guests. 2010 will be the second year that The Parkway Theater will host the Nordic Lights Film Festival.

The Parkway Theater is owned by Joe Senkyr, who also owns Pepitos Mexican restaurant. He is a lively, community-oriented man who has helped make our festival come to life. He got so into the spirit of the festival that he came up with a signature dish for the festival: torsk tacos! Sue Harstad displays hers below.